Pre-Civil War
She rescued over 300 people from slavery and served as a general in the Union army.
Harriet Tubman
She famously refused to give up her seat in the front of a bus.
Rosa Parks
She wrote numerous books including "Beloved" and "The Bluest Eye."
Toni Morrison
She gave the speech: Ain't I a Woman? at an 1851 Women's Rights Convention.
Sojourner Truth
She played a leading role in making sure the Little Rock Nine could integrate white public schools in Arkansas.
Daisy Bates
She was an anthropologist and wrote "Their Eyes Are Watching God" which was turned into a movie starring Halle Berry.
Zora Neale Hurston
She is an American talk show host and a television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor.
Oprah Winfrey
Who was the first Black woman to win an Oscar?
Hattie McDaniel
She wrote a widely read slave narrative that detailed hiding in her grandmother's attic for 7 years. She used the pseudonym Linda Brent.
Harriet Jacobs
President Obama called her "the godmother of the civil rights movement."
Dorothy Height
She is a Nigerian author who wrote "Half of A Yellow Sun" and most recently "Americanah." She was featured on Beyonce's new album in the song "***Flawless."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
She was a first lady, advocates for poverty awareness, education, and healthy eating.
Michelle Obama
She plays Olivia Pope in the TV Show Scandal.
Kerry Washington
She ran a campaign to end lynching.
Ida B. Wells
She was the first Black person to run for President.
Shirley Chisholm
She wrote "The Color Purple" and coined the term "womanism."
Alice Walker
She is a prolific Black feminist theorist who has written books such as "Ain't I a Woman," "We Real Cool," and "Feminist Theory From Margin to Center."
Bell Hooks
She has been in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" and "What's Love Got to Do With It" and she played Malcolm X's wife in Spike Lee's Malcolm X.
Angela Bassett
This organization was founded in 1913 by a group of 22 Black women at Howard University and their first public act was participating in a march for women's suffrage.
Delta Sigma Theta
She is a well-known activist with ties to the Communist Party USA and has close ties to the Black Panthers. Ronald Reagan wanted to bar her from teaching in California because of her political beliefs.
Angela Davis
She wrote in the early twentieth century. She wrote "Passing" and "Quicksand."
Nella Larsen
Who was the first black women to be elected to the United States Congress?
Shirley Chisholm
She is the first African-American and first woman of color to win gold in the Individual All-Around at the Olympics for Gymnastics.
Gabby Douglas